WOYWW 213

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. Although I haven't much on my desk, Mr Mojo has packed his suitcase at the minute and gone on his holidays, I couldn't miss the opportunity to catch up with you all.

I thought how lovely it would be now that I have no crafting commitments for a while to craft just for myself so started a scrapbook page with some gorgeous new papers I treated myself too. I've messed around with it for 3 days and have got absolutely nowhere. Just goes to show that working under pressure gets creativity flowing I think.

I got so fed up with it that I retreated to the garden and the beautiful sunshine yesterday. So as that's as much of a work desk this week here's a little piccy. It's all a bit of a jungle and things are growing faster that I can get to them but I like it like that. I'm only showing you the tidy bit though!!!

I mentioned last time that I made a scrapbook in a tin for my dear MIL's birthday last week. Although the inside was personal to her this is what I did on the front. I used alcohol inks on the tin itself and then made some flowers from some scraps of sprayed paper.

Short and sweet I'm afraid this week as I'm flying out the door to work but I'll be round later to have a nosey so get the kettle on.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

A Little Sheena Reminder

Evening folks. I hope you've managed to enjoy the little taste of Summer we've enjoyed today. It's been a lovely day here in Yorkshire

I'm just popping by tonight to remind you that Sheena has two Christmas shows on tomorrow at 11am and 3pm on IDEAL WORLD not C&C as mentioned in my last post.

Here are another two samples I created for the shows using the gorgeous new stamps. There is one plate of backgrounds with a lovely ivy corner, always useful, not just at Christmas and the other is a folk art, stitched plate, again not just for Christmas me thinks.

Short and sweet I'm afraid as it's past my bedtime so thanks for stopping by and for all the lovely comments you always leave, I so appreciate you taking the time to say hello.

Happy Crafting.

A little Bit Of Sheena Christmas

Evening folks. I hope your week has gone well. It's been a bit of a blur in The Craft Garden of Christmas samples one minute and birthday scrapbooks for my MIL the next!!!! No wonder my poor blog gets sadly neglected these days!!

Anyway, it's time to unveil the first of my Sheena samples. It's very strange doing Christmas in June but I must say with these new stamps it's been a pleasure to get in the festive mood. They will be launched on C&C on Wednesday 19th at 11am and 3pm as current schedules stand and in total Sheena has 6 new stamp plates, all very different from each other but all equally gorgeous.

This first one is great to work with. It's a large image and can be used in so many ways. My fellow Inkoid, Linda even turned it into a lovely Summer scene. Anyway, here is my winter version.

I used distress inks for the sky and then painted the image with H20's before stamping all around the edge with the snow storm stamp that's on the same plate and embossing with silver WOW powder.

I loved making this second one and it turned into such a big image I had to make a card to fit it!!!! Talk about getting carried away.

I treated it like the collage I did a while ago with the abbey arches stamp. The image was bleached out of the distress inks with water before being over sprayed with the gold pourables that had been decanted into a mini mister. I then stamped the snow storm all over with white acrylic paint  and the ivy corners were gold embossed and painted with green H20's.

It really had a lovely sparkle to it.

Well, that's me for today so thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely weekend whatever you are up too.

WOYWW 210

Hello folks, I very nearly didn't join in with WOYWW this week but after missing last week due to big birthday celebrations, not mine I hasten to add, I couldn't miss a look round all your desks again so here's mine for this week.

Not much to show, I'm afraid. I've been up to my ears in DT work. Christmas in June, very weird, especially as Summer has at last decided to show it's face, so my desk has become a bit of a dumping ground, especially as DD piled most of her stuff in my room while we decorated hers. I'm climbing over a rug and some bedding to get in to take the photo as it is.

Jo's (Jozerty) gorgeous Hoya plants she sent me a few years ago are at last flowering, can't tell you how excited I was at that, doesn't take much I know and there is a lovely little pile of envelopes that contained these beauties. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to receive so many gorgeous ATC's.

From left to right the creators are, Ria, Sam , Jo and Sue
                                                           Laura, Jill and Annie
                                                           Jan and Sandra De.

Thank you all. I will treasure each and everyone. Jan I feel very honoured to receive your lovely 1st edition stamping.

Here's mine. I thought it was appropriate considering how the weeks fly by between WOYWW's, let alone the years.

If you haven't yet discovered the huge weekly desk hop, then you need to go and see Julia, HERE and she will point you in the right direction.

Right, I need to go and get a fresh cup of coffee before I come and see what you've all been up to so thank you for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Anyone Got The Time? & Did You Know Sheena Has A DT Call Out?

Afternoon folks. I hope you are all enjoying summer. How wonderful to get some warm sunshine at last. It certainly lifts your spirits doesn't it? The trouble is I'm now torn between my garden, which desperately needs some attention and doing what I need to do in the craft room, oh well, not a bad dilemma to have I suppose!

Yesterday was my dear Hubby's 50th Birthday. What a frightening number that is, thank goodness I have a good few years before I catch him up, although it doesn't bother him at all. We both managed to get the day off work, a rare luxury these days and made the most of it by going into Leeds shopping and doing lunch. It was a really lovely day.

I had struggled with what to buy him for his big day, he is a man of few wants although he loves his gadgets like most men but he has always wanted a large clock for his office so that is what he got. This is what I made him.

I never thought I'd struggle with it like I did, there are three different colours under this final one. I think I'm happy with the blue and brown now though. The stamps in the middle are Chocolate Baroque Punky Romance, love this set and I painted them with Sheena's Pebeo acrylic's, the iridescent ones out of the big set, love those too. The crackle stamp is Sheena's Ageing Beautifully and the Roman Numerals are from Inkylicious.

He has taken it to work to hang in his office!!

Before I go I'd just like to say a big hello to all my new followers. I couldn't understand it yesterday when I saw you all and wondered why I was suddenly so popular but then when I checked Facebook and saw the post from Chief Inkoid Fiona all became clear. I'm glad you found us all and you are very welcome.

If anyone doesn't know Sheena has a DT call out for 2 new Inkoids. For all the details please click this link. The closing date is the 20th June and all the information on how to apply is clearly set out.

She also has some shows on C&C this Saturday so watch out for them. I didn't make any new samples for these shows but the other Inkoids have been busy creating and are showing them off on their blogs if you want to have a look.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy this beautiful sunshine.

Happy Crafting.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY WOYWW-Week 208

Well here we are again on another special WOYWW day celebrating four wonderful years of meeting up on a Wednesday to share not only desks but bits and pieces of things that are going on around our desks too all thanks to the amazing Julia, who had the brilliant idea of starting this thing off in the first place. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't have this midweek day which I think all WOYWWer's look forward too as it means we can put down what we are doing for an hour or so each week and just have a good old nosey around each others spaces and a bit of a chin wag while we are at it. I have made so many friends from all over the  World and there's not many places you can do that.

So without further ado, here is my desk as of about 5 minutes ago!!

I am still, hanging head in shame, making my ATC swaps!!! This has been a work in progress since Friday night because DD is having her bedroom decorated at the minute and so we have spent every spare minute clearing drawers and emptying toy boxes of 12 years worth of stuff and trying to prise baby toys she is so attached to from her grasp. Most of them are now in the loft!!

The ATC's will be finished and on their way out very soon I promise and thank you so much for the ones I have already received.

Here are two from Annie (on the left) and Jozarty (on the right). Thank you so much ladies I love them.

If you'd like to swap with me, please drop me an e-mail with your snail mail addy and I'll get one in the post, I promise!!

Last week you might remember I was experimenting with some uncompressed paper and lots of you asked what it was like for flowers.

Well the answer is brilliant. I love them and have been making lots. What do you think of them?

Finally, as the weather was so beautiful we had our first trip to The Lake District in nearly two years. I was having serious withdrawal symptoms as it's one of my favourite places in the world. So to sign off I'd thought I'd share a photo with you of the Langdale hills from Elterwater.

Thanks for stopping by and  here's to many more years of WOYWW. Cheers Julia for all you do.

What A Beautiful Day

Afternoon folks. I hope you are enjoying this beautiful sunshine today. What stunning weather and as clear as a bell. We have been out onto the moors this morning and you could see for miles. Magic!! So different from yesterday. Lets hope it lasts!!

Sheena had two brilliant shows today and as usual sold out of most things which is great. That means you love these stamps as much as us Inkoids!

I enjoyed making the samples so much I thought I'd share some daffodils with you today.

Another completely H20'd card, hope I'm not boring you with these, but the stamps just lent themselves to creating a set.

This second one is again painted with H20's but I made the background out of distress inks and over stamped with the Ageing Beautifully set.

Thanks for stopping by and have a brilliant Bank Holiday.

A Whole Bunch of Lily Of The Valley

Morning folks and what a morning it is for the start of the Bank Holiday. Blowing a gale, pouring with rain and freezing cold. If I didn't have to go out today I wouldn't.

As promised I'm back this morning with more Sheena samples, this time of beautiful Lily Of The Valley. Sorry if I'm a piccy heavy but I really enjoyed this stamp and just had to share all the samples I made as I couldn't choose a favourite.

The first will look familiar. I loved the bluebell card I made all in H20's so much that I had to do each flower on a similar theme so I ended up with a matching set.

The second one is the bleached technique using Distress Inks. I stamped the flowers and then masked them out before stamping the leaves and just loosely colouring them with cut and dry foam. I just wanted an impression and then the delicate little flowers to be the detail. The top part of the card was sprayed with gold radiant rain pourables I have decanted into a mister bottle. You have to have a bit of mica don't you?

And lastly I saw an image of a plate with Lily of The Valley all round the edge on my travels and wondered how to recreate it so I made a circular easel card. Everything was stamped in Peeled Paint Distress ink.

Don't forget to catch Sheena's shows if you can tomorrow at 10am and 3pm. I know she has got some gorgeous demos planned.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Friday.

A Flowery Sheena Sneaky Peek

Afternoon folks. At last I can share with you some sneaky peeks of the samples that have been keeping me quiet over the last week.

For someone who loves their garden and flowers as much as I do, these new stamps were a dream to work with, especially with the new clear rock-a-blocks that Sheena has eventually persuaded Crafters Companion to make for her. It was a bit of a joke at the DT retreat that I didn't like the old purple ones but I have to admit to being a total convert now. These are sooooo easy to use.

The very first stamps I played with were the Bluebells.

I created the background with H20's splodged onto wet card and then overstamped with the bluebells inked up with the H20's. The decoupaged flowers were stamped and painted with the same colours.

The photos don't do the mica justice but I just managed to capture it a bit.

For this second sample I used Fusible fibre for the flowers. I have Karen (a fellow Inkoid) to thank for reviving this idea and it suited the bluebells beautifully.

I'll be back tomorrow with some Lily of the Valley and Sheena will be on Create and Craft this Saturday with all the new stamps and clear rock-a-blocks at 10am and 3pm.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are keeping warm in this lovely Summer weather. We've had hail and sun and a balmy temperature of 6oC today.

WOYWW 207

Morning Crafters and dear WOYWW friends. Another week has flown by and I have been sadly absent from the  Blogging World again. I've been up to my eyeballs in DT work and also scuttling outside to play in the garden every time the sun shone over the weekend. Well it is such a rarity, you have to make the most of it don't you?

I very nearly didn't share my desk this week as I had put everything away last night after finishing the last project but then my lovely DH came home with a new toy to play with so everything has come out again.

He uses uncompressed paper to make whatever it is he does at work and as he's always interested in my craft he wondered if I can use it with my inks and stuff so we have been experimenting this morning to see what it does and how it's different from plain ordinary card. I have to say I'm feelin the love. You can use it in all the same way as card but it looks and feels like fabric and inks on it are beautiful and soft.

The uncompressed paper is on the left and the card on the right. I spritzed both with water and dried them. I'd be interested to know what you think.

We've embossed it and die cut it so far and played with distress inks but I need to put it through it's paces a bit more yet.

So that's my desk today. I can't wait to get round to see what you've all been up too. I haven't done any blog hopping for a week so need to have a catch up.

By the way, if you want to see what we got up to on the DT retreat last week, Sheena has a photo on her blog. 

Thanks for stopping by and if you want to join in the fun of WOYWW then pop over to see our lovely Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.